Went to a Goodwill and a local thrift store and got some goodies. I have pictures of only a few things as the others are in use. I would stick it on the tech-related purchase thread but it's all old hardware. Here's a list (all prices are in USD:
- 6FT FireWire 800 cable (brand-new in box), $2.75
- 6FT FireWire 400 cable, $0.75
- 3FT 9-pin serial cable, $0.75
- USB to DS/DS Lite/DSi/3DS series charging cable, $0.75
- Weird S-video looking port to component female. It goes to a connector on my Power Mac G4's PCI video card that I think allows for component recording, or display? Not sure. Said Power Mac is currently broken - logic board is dead due to age and two stupid mistakes (screw on the board while powered on and accidentally hitting the PMU reset switch a few times too many). $0.75.
- Crayola USB keyboard. This one me and my aunt got for my dad as a Father's Day present, along with a note that reads "Got you a new keyboard with bigger letters 'cause you're old now. Enjoy."
He's 40, but my aunt loves to tease him about being old since he's the oldest of them. $5.25.
- Original LEGO USB camera for the RCX. Does work. $3.95.
Pictures of the keyboard (without note):
And camera (it has a LONG cable as it was designed to be put on mobile robots):
And now for some sad news. Two of my tech things have died today. One very important to me.
#1. My 250MB ATAPI Zip drive. It acted like a 100MB Zip drive, but worked great until last week or so.
I had it running on a SYBA PCIe IDE/SATA x1 card over an ENLabs PCIe x1-x1 riser. It shared the IDE bus along with my TSSTCorp CD/DVD combo drive.
Last week, I started having weird problems with it - it would click incessantly, show a red light upon bootup, my card's BIOS initialization would take a minute or more (instead of the 5 seconds it used to). My system still booted, but once it did my Zip drive did not appear in Windows.
Well, my parents went to Europe for their anniversary (and my dad's 40th birthday) and I did a 3-day sleepover at my mom's parents. We also went strawberry picking (we got lots of strawberries and made most of them chocolate strawberries). I had set the PC to F@H and BOINC while I was gone, and got back to the PC off.
I was a bit confused, but wasn't too concerned - power-outs were common right now due to it being summer with lots of people running their ACs and the grid being overstrained. So I hit the power button and then went to use the bathroom.
Came back to it booting... again. It POST beeped again.
So I sat down to watch what it did. As soon as it got to the part where my PCIe card's BIOS initialized it would reboot.
I was a bit confused, but disabled CSM to see if that fixed it. I got to the Windows-is-booting part but right towards the end of the boot process it would restart, just like before.
So I shut down and pulled the Zip drive. A messy uninstall - loose cables, a gaping hole in the front - but it was out. Booted up and yep, that was it. PC runs just fine.
That was #1. Not very important to me as I wanted to swap it for a 750MB ATAPI drive at some point (rare, I know, but I still want one).
#2 is very dear to me. It's my Nintendo 2DS. The original, black-and-red, slate model.
I loved that 2DS. I got it in 2015 along with Pokemon X. I beat Pokemon X on it, I beat Bravely Default on it. I spent about 200 hours using the thing.
And then I stuck it in a drawer once we got a Switch in 2017 since I wanted to play Breath of the Wild, and forgot it existed.
But recently, I decided to pick it up again. I mostly use my New 3DS XL (formerly my dad's, he gave it to me after we got the Switch) since he got Bravely Second as software download not a game card, and that's where I beat Sun (and later Moon, but Moon only to give myself Lunala). But Sun is not my game. X is my game. It was the first Pokemon game I ever played and it's one of my favorites.
So when I picked up X and Y again to get all the Legendaries and Mythicals, I decided to replay Pokemon X only on the 2DS. Only for nostalgia. (I had to make a new save as I needed to choose a different starter Pokemon to get the last two Pokemon I needed).
So I started playing Pokemon X on there again. I got to the second of 8 Gyms, and was making my way to the third. Currently at my grandparent's house.
It was the last day we were there (today) and I was bringing my stuff out to our van. Holding both my 2DS and New 3DS XL.
I set both consoles down on the trunk edge, put my suitcase in the car, grab my New 3DS XL, and hit the "close trunk" button (it's a 2011 Nissan Quest SL). I walk away to go back inside to make sure I didn't miss anything. I'm going up the steps when I hear the trunk fail to close and open again.
I go over and see I forgot to pick up my 2DS. I grab it, and go inside, not worried as the trunk stops at basically everything. It's not very strong either.
Fast-forward to 3 hours later, at home. I'm also getting all of the Mega Evolution-capable Pokemon, and one is Scizor. To get Scizor you take a Scyther, trade it with someone while it's holding a Metal Coat, and then it evolves. So I grab my 2DS to trade to myself with and switch it on.
Instead of the Trainer battle I was in before, I'm greeted with the sight of 2 very dead LCD screens. Both are black with wonderful rainbow lights where they're cracked.
I was able to navigate the battle and save my game as the digitizer (the touch-screen part) still worked, but both screens are broken beyond repair.
It is possible to replace the screens (both screens are on one module as the console doesn't flip shut) with a $40 eBay purchase, and I've already taken apart the 2DS and removed the busted screens, but
I'm quite sad. This console has been with me since 2015 and despite me neglecting it for half of that time it's been amazing in the other half. Never freezing during gameplay, great battery life, comfortable in my small hands (and doesn't make a CLICK CLICK CLICK when you're opening it at night when you're not supposed to).
So yeah. Good news (thrift store finds) and bad (dead stuff).
Sorry for the long post that doesn't have too many interesting things. I'll have some fun stuff for you on Friday
Those bridges were okay on pre-Hawaii cards though.
